LITTLE BLUE BOOK ^O. 486 
Edited by E. Haldeman-Julius 

Hints on Soils and 
Fertilizers 

R. A. POWER, B. S. 


HALDEMAN-JULIUS COMPANY 
GIRARD, KANSAS 



LITTLE BLUE BOOK NO. 486 

Edited by E. Haldeman-Julius 

Hints on Soils and 
Fertilizers 

R. A. Power, B. S. 


HALDEMAN-JULIUS COMPANY 
GIRARD, KANSAS 


OSTl 

.■pu 


Copyright, 1923, 
Haldeman-Julius Company. 


m 23 1924 

(0 C1A777263 


HINTS ON SOILS AND FERTILIZERS. 





HINTS ON SOILS AND FERTILIZERS. 


THE NATURE OF SOIL 

In delving into the mysteries of the soil, it 
is not without appreciation of the fact that 
proper handling of the soil is still very little 
understood by those who come in closest con¬ 
tact with it. Despite the long period of time 
that has elapsed since man first inhabited this 
earth, and has constantly lived off the fruits 
of the earth since that time, comparatively 
slow progress has been made in wresting from 
Mother Nature the secrets that she has locked 
up in the earth’s crust. Nearly everybody 
knows that if a seed is planted in the soil, the 
seed will sprout, and eventually grow into a 
mature plant, if the environment is favorable. 
But just how does that seed take its food from 
the soil and grow into a fine plant? It is cer¬ 
tain that the small seed does not have enough 
plant food in itself to produce food enough for 
the seed to grow into a large plant. No, the 
seed must soon turn to the soil for its exist¬ 
ence, and the manner by which this seed takes 
this food, from the soil, and numerous other 
processes peculiar to the characteristics of the 
soil, will be explained in this booklet. It might 
well be added at this time, that many results 
of the workings of the soil are known to those 
who till the soil, but very few know just why 
these results obtain, or what to expect when 
a different method is employed from that or¬ 
dinarily used. We will treat of the various 


6 HINTS ON SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 

practices used in different parts of the coun¬ 
try, and try to present in these pages an ex¬ 
planation of different soil phenomena that oc¬ 
cur under varying condiiions, in a manner that 
will be clear to anyone capable of reading. 

Before proceeding further, we may well ask, 
“what is soil”? Ordinarily, we think of soil 
being the upper six or eight inches of the 
earth’s crust that is used for growing crops. 
Now that we have our soil located, might we 
not inquire further as to what we really mean 
when we refer to the soil. Of what is soil 
composed? True, soil is not composed of ex¬ 
actly the same ingredients and exactly the same 
amounts in all cases, but we will first consider 
its general composition. 

The real soil is made up of two chief in¬ 
gredients, namely, humus and mineral matter. 
By humus, we mean decayed, or rather, par¬ 
tially decayed organic matter, such as barn¬ 
yard manure, or a crop plowed, or turned un¬ 
der, such as rye, for instance. This matter 
of humus will be discussed more in detail in 
a later chapter, so we will not dwell further 
on this subject here. The other part of the 
soil is termed mineral matter, or mineral ele¬ 
ments. These elements concern the richness 
of the soil, or its ability to yield a crop. 

Possibly the next question that arises is con¬ 
cerning the origin of the soil, especially the 
mineral elements. There are various agencies 
that aid in soil formation, but all of these 
agencies work on one substance—rock. A rock 
may be defined as an aggregate of mineral 
elements. When certain natural forces work 


HINTS ON SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 7 


on these rocks, they are slowly, gradually, but 
nevertheless surely, broken up into fine parti¬ 
cles which go to make up the soil. Sudden 
changes of temperature, such as heat or cold, 
cause rocks to split and crack. Frost has a 
similar effect, when water freezes in small 
rock crevices, the expansion of water into ice 
causing the rocks to break into smaller pieces. 
Water also aids in soil formation, as it not 
only dissolves soil particles that are small 
enough, but it also has a wearing effect on 
rocks, as it constantly flows past a rock par¬ 
ticle. Wind is another agency that does its 
part in crumbling the giant rock. Sharp par¬ 
ticles of soil, such as sand, for instance, by 
being blown against rocks, tend to wear off 
gradually the surface of the rocks thus ex¬ 
posed. Certain gases, such as oxygen and car¬ 
bon dioxide, also have their effect upon the 
rocks, largely through chemical changes. Thus 
it can be seen that soil formation is not a 
quick process, but that it has taken millions 
of years to bring this disintegration about, 
and that soil is constantly being formed, and 
will continue to be formed for a long time yet. 

Not all soils found at a certain place were 
necessarily made from the rock that lies un¬ 
derneath it. Water, wind and ice all contribute 
to the transporting of soil particles, after they 
are small enough to be carried by these agen¬ 
cies, and deposit them on other rocks. We 
are all familiar with the running streams of 
water that carry small particles of soil in 
solution. These soil particles are not all car¬ 
ried a very great distance, unless extremely 


8 HINTS ON SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 

fine. The coarser particles, being heavier, are 
soon deposited at some point further down 
the stream. A great number of years ago, 
scientists tell us (and they have sufficient 
proofs to verify their claims) that a huge 
glacier moved along this country from the 
north, and extended along the northern bor¬ 
der of the United States. These large ice 
sheets not only leveled the topography of our 
land, but they dragged along a great amount 
of soil from the north, and deposited it hun¬ 
dreds of miles south of its original position. 
Hence, we find many locations where the top 
soil is of different composition than the un¬ 
derlying subsoil. 

We have already learned that the soil con¬ 
tains mainly two classes of materials, humus 
and mineral elements. We have defined humus 
as decayed vegetable matter, such as the re¬ 
mains of plants that were not used by man, 
but left upon the soil. The elements of a 
mineral nature are just as essential to the 
welfare of the plant as the organic matter, or 
humus. We will discuss these mineral ele¬ 
ments from a chemical point of view in our 
next chapter, but we will now consider them 
briefly from a physical standpoint. 

When speaking of a soil, in general, we 
usually refer to it as either a sandy soil, a silt 
soil, as a clay soil, or as a loam of one of 
these soils. Now, just what do we mean when 
we say a soil is a sandy soil, or sandy loam, 
etc.? This classification is based upon the size 
of the soil particles that compose the soil. The 
sand particles are the largest classification of 


HINTS ON SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 9 

soil particles that we have. These sand par¬ 
ticles are further divided into large sand par¬ 
ticles, medium sand, and fine sand. Not only are 
these sand particles the largest, but they are 
also the heaviest. They are the first to settle 
when carried by a stream of water. These sand 
particles are not only easily recognized by the 
eye, but have a rough feeling when rubbed be¬ 
tween the fingers. 

The silt particles are smaller than the sand 
particles. We might classify them as medium 
soil grains, smaller than the sand particles, but 
larger than the minute clay particles. These 
soil grains, when rubbed between the fingers, 
have a velvety feeling. 

The smallest sized particles of soil with 
which we have to deal, are the clay particles. 
These soil grains are even smaller than the 
silt particles, and many times smaller than the 
sand particles. Anyone familiar with clayey 
soils knows their sticky character when moist. 
This is because of the amount of moisture that 
is retained between the minute clay particles. 
These small particles retain water for a longer 
period of time than other soils because of the 
fact that there are so many tiny spaces between 
the small particles of soil, each of which holds 
a minute quantity of moisture. 

We thus see that the above mentioned soils 
are classified in this manner solely from a basis 
of size of soil particles. We often hear a soil 
referred to as a silt loam, a sandy loam, etc. 
This merely means that the soil referred to iS 
not all sand, or not all silt, etc., but that it con- 


10 HINTS ON SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 

tains a certain amount of the other sized soil 
grains, also. For instance, to use a specific 
example, we might classify a clay loam as a 
soil having 35 per cent of sand, 30 per cent silt, 
and 35 per cent of clay particles. In fact, it 
would be hard indeed to find a soil that had 
one hundred per cent of the same sized par¬ 
ticles in it. 

We must not leave this topic without under¬ 
standing that there are various other things 
that go to compose the soil besides the humus 
and mineral elements already mentioned. 
There are countless soil organisms existing in 
the soil, which, in most cases, work for the good 
of the soil. Such organisms are known as 
worms, bacteria, and fungi. Worms usually 
aid in making the soil porous, so that air can 
penetrate the soil. The bacteria that are pres¬ 
ent in the soil are a great help in breaking 
down the organic matter, or humus, and de¬ 
composing it so that the plant food contained 
therein may be restored to the soil. Most bac¬ 
teria aid in the manner just described, but there 
are some kinds of bacteria which are harmful 
to ideal soil conditions. Fortunately, these bac¬ 
teria are comparatively few, and cease to be a 
detriment when the soil is properly cared for. 

Air is another factor that must be counted on 
in a good soil. Strange to say, the roots of 
plants need air, to a certain extent, just as we 
need air to live. If there were no air between 
the soil grains that we have just been dis¬ 
cussing, the roots of the plants could not sur¬ 
vive. Therefore, we must make allowance for 
a certain amount of air in the soil, and this is 


HINTS ON SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 11 

usually provided, unless the soil is so full of 
water that the air is crowded out. 

Water, to a certain extent, is an absolute re¬ 
quirement for plant growth, and is usually 
found in the soil to some extent, at least. The 
form of water that the plant uses for growth 
is not the form that we ordinarily understand 
water to be. What we really mean here, is 
moisture, in a form that surrounds the soil 
grains. 

Finally, we usually find more or less inor¬ 
ganic substances in the soil, such as the chem¬ 
ist would classify as “salts.” These are found 
in greater amounts in dry climates than in wet, 
as the more frequent rains of the moist cli¬ 
mates tend to wash or bleach these salts from 
the soil. 

CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF SOILS 

We have now learned that soil, as we ordi¬ 
narily understand the term, is composed of 
humus and mineral elements, chiefly. Now we 
may well ask “What are these materials com¬ 
posed of?” The mineral matter is obviously 
composed of minerals. There are a few min¬ 
eral elements contained in the decaying or¬ 
ganic matter also. Hence, we have consider¬ 
able mineral elements contained in the ordi¬ 
nary soil. There are ten elements that are 
absolutely required to produce plant growth, 
but a few of these are gases, rather than min¬ 
eral elements. These ten elements are as fol¬ 
lows: carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, 
potassium, nitrogen, sulphur, calcium, iron and 


12 HINTS ON SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 

magnesium. Such elements as carbon, hydro¬ 
gen, oxygen and nitrogen are commonly found 
as gases, but they are also found as part of 
the solid soil particles. In fact, it is very sel¬ 
dom that an element is found in the pure state, 
but most generally in combination with one 
or more other elements. For instance, the 
mineral elements are usually found in nature 
as oxides, or in combination with oxygen. 

Plants do not draw upon each of the above 
named elements in the same proportion for 
their plant food, and furthermore, hardly any 
two different kinds of plants, or crops, use the 
same proportion of plant food in maturing to a 
farm crop. For instance, an ordinary yield of 
cotton will remove in one season about 33 
pounds of nitrogen, 6 pounds of phosphorus, 
and 12 pounds of potassium from one acre, 
while a corn crop will remove from one acre, 
in one season, about 95 pounds of nitrogen, 16 
pounds of phosphorus, and 56 pounds of potas¬ 
sium. Thus, it will be seen that two different 
crops can vary considerably in the amount of 
plant food drawn from the same acreage of 
soil. 

Three other mineral elements are found in 
plants, namely, sodium, silicon and aluminum, 
but it has been proved that these elements are 
not absolutely required by the plants, and all 
the farm crops have been grown in soils de¬ 
pleted of these elements, with results just as 
satisfactory as when these elements were 
present. 

There are three elements, possibly four, that 
are used in larger quantities than are the other 


HINTS ON SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 13 

elements. These elements are nitrogen, pho«- 
phorus, potassium and, in many cases, calcium. 
In fact, when commercial fertilizers are sold, 
they are sold on the basis of the first three 
named elements; nitrogen, phosphorus and 
potassium. Consequently, these are the ele¬ 
ments that are provided most by the farmer 
who is interested in keeping up the fertility of 
his land. 

The nitrogen is used by the plants in the 
manufacturing of protein, a form of food 
relished by all animals. Phosphorus is used 
by the plant largely in filling out the grain or 
fruit of the plant. Obviously, the greatest need 
for this element is during the later stages of 
plant growth. Potassium is used largely for 
protein and starc'h formation by the plants. 
This element is especially desirable in the 
growing of root crops, such as potatoes, beets, 
etc., which contain a high percentage of starch. 
Calcium (or “lime”) is regarded as being es¬ 
sential for leaf and stalk growth. It has a 
double function, however, in that it sweetens 
the soil, or neutralizes it, so that bacteria that 
are beneficial to the soil can exist, as it is a 
well-known fact that certain crops cannot thrive 
on acid, or “sour” soils. 

The nitrogen that is used by the plant is not 
in the form of the gas that is so abundant in 
the air. While it is true that carbon and oxy¬ 
gen can be taken in by the plant as a gas in 
the form of carbon dioxide, a gas, the plant is 
unable to take in the free nitrogen from the air, 
but must take it in through the roots of the 
plant, in a soluble form. Because of this fact, 


14 HINTS ON SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 

nitrogen is not as plentiful a plant food as it 
would be if it were able to be taken in by the 
plant as the other gases are assimilated by it. 

Phosphorus is a mineral element, and also 
has to be taken in through the roots of the 
plant. There is considerably more phosphorus 
removed by the ordinary farm crops annually 
than is put back into the soil, even when the 
best of care is taken to restore the plant food 
to the soil. As a result, many farms are not 
producing as large a yield as they produced 
formerly, because of the depletion of the phos¬ 
phorus supply. While this factor is not the 
only cause of lessened production, it is one of 
the outstanding reasons why many farms do 
not produce the yield now that they once en¬ 
joyed. Of course, different sections of the coun¬ 
try vary in the amount of phosphorus needed to 
maintain the soil fertility, but in the majority 
of cases it has been found that, outside of 
nitrogen, phosphorus was the most needed ele¬ 
ment. 

Potassium is not drawn on quite so heavily 
by the plants as are nitrogen and phosphorus, 
but there are many instances where this ele¬ 
ment is seriously lacking in the soil. This ele¬ 
ment is never used in its pure state (as a silver- 
white metal) but only in its combinations with 
oxygen, or oxygen and carbon, termed “potash.” 

One of the matters that is often most puz¬ 
zling to farmers, is the failure of certain crops 
to grow, despite the large amount of a certain 
kind of fertilizer placed on the land. The prob¬ 
abilities are that the farmer is not applying the 
kind of fertilizer which the soil lacks the most. 


HINTS ON SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 15 

Most of us are familiar with the old adage, “A 
chain is no stronger than its weakest link.” 
Likewise, a soil is no more productive than its 
scarcest element. We may apply a great quan¬ 
tity of phosphorus and potash to our corn land, 
but if the land needs nitrogen to feed to the 
corn, then we will get about as large a corn 
crop as if we had not put on any phosphorus 
or potash. It would be the nitrogen that would 
be the determining factor in this case. 

Often a farmer wonders why his clover does 
not grow normally as it should. He may even 
add a complete fertilizer of nitrogen, phos¬ 
phorus and potash, and still not be able to note 
any material gain in the yield. The trouble 
may lie entirely in the amount of calcium, or 
lime, in the soil. The soil may be not only 
deficient in lime for feeding purposes of the 
plant, but the land might be so acid, due to 
lack of lime, or calcium, that the bacteria that 
are so essential for clover to grow have left 
the soil, and consequently the clover is unable 
to thrive, simply due to a lack of this soil 
neutralizer. 

Thus we see that the soil yields up to the 
plant the mineral elements demanded by the 
plant in the process of growing. It also fur¬ 
nishes nitrogen in a form that is soluble in 
water. The water in the soil supplies the hy¬ 
drogen and part of the oxygen used by the 
plant. In fact, water is simply a chemical com¬ 
bination of hydrogen and oxygen, containing 
two parts of the former, and one part of the 
oxygen. By means of its leaves, the plant takes 
in carbon and oxygen in another chemical com- 


16 HINTS ON SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 

bination, known as carbon dioxide. This is the 
same gas that people exhale in breathing, and 
is mildly poisonous, but the plant breathes in 
this gas, and immediately separates the two, 
retaining the carbon, and releasing the oxygen. 

To sum up: A plant will grow under some 
conditions, and will fail to grow under others. 
The soil is largely the determining factor as 
to the success or failure of a crop, and the 
physical and chemical condition of the soil is 
the point that needs the greatest emphasis. 
Before proceeding further in the mysteries of 
the soil, perhaps it would be best to first con¬ 
sider something about the soil in its relation to 
plant growth. 


HOW SOILS AFFECT PLANT GROWTH 

Let us first start with a seed, and get a clear 
idea of just what a seed is, and then we can 
follow the young seedling up through its 
growth, and learn some of the mysteries of 
the plant and its relation to the soil. A seed 
is usually defined as a young, miniature plant 
that is in the dormant, or resting stage, with 
enough plant* food surrounding it to nourish it 
until it is capable of sending out roots to gather 
its own food. These seeds are usually com¬ 
posed, then, of two major parts; the miniature 
plant, sometimes called the embryo, and the 
plant food surrounding the embryo. 

Next, let us plant this seed in the soil, and 
note what takes place. We will find that if 
the soil is fairly warm, and if a sufficient 


HINTS ON SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 17 

• 

amount of moisture and air are incorporated 
in the soil, the seed will commence to sprout. 
This simply means that the embryo is absorb¬ 
ing the food material surrounding it, and is 
sending out a root system that is working down¬ 
ward into the soil, and also a stalk, or stem, 
that is forcing itself upwards, so that the 
foliage that is to follow will be able to get 
the sunshine and air above the surface of the 
ground. But it is quite obvious that the small 
amount of plant food contained in the original 
seed is not sufficient to feed the young seed 
indefinitely. By the time that this plant food 
is exhausted, the young plant, or seedling, has 
a fine root system established of its own, so 
that from that time on, the plant derives its 
food from the soil, by means of these small 
slender root filaments. 

We now have the young plant in a stage 
where it derives its food from the soil. But 
what if the soil is lacking in some particular 
plant food? Unless the soil is unusually defi¬ 
cient in some plant food element, the young 
plant will not be hindered in its growth ma¬ 
terially, during its early growth. But as it con¬ 
tinues to grow through the summer, if one or 
more elements are lacking, a decided check in 
its growth will be noticeable, and a poor crop 
will ultimately result. 

Many are often puzzled as to the manner in 
which plants use the elements of the soil, and 
are thereby enabled to grow into matured 
plants. It is true that the plant has a feeding 
apparatus differing radically from that of ani¬ 
mals. Plants do not have teeth, stomachs or 


18 HINTS ON SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 


intestines. If one has occasion to examine the 
roots of a plant very minutely, he will discover 
that besides the main large roots, there are a 
great number of very small, hair-like, slender 
threads, that are attached to the larger, coarser 
roots. These slender filaments are the real 
food gatherers for the plant. They" have a 
habit of working their way through the soil 
particles, and winding themselves around these 
soil grains. They do not “eat” these soil par¬ 
ticles, as many suppose, but rather, they sim¬ 
ply absorb the moisture contained on the sur¬ 
face of the soil grains, or “soak it up,” as it is 
sometimes expressed. This is simply a process 
of osmosis, commonly known to any school boy. 
The moisture contained on the surface of the 
soil grains is largely composed of water, but 
this water contains a small amount of the ele¬ 
ments that we discussed in our last chapter, 
in solution. That is the important point. Now 
let us see what the plant does with the solu¬ 
tion of minerals and salts in this water. If 
we could trace this solution with the naked eye, 
after it is taken up by the fine rootlets of the 
plant, we would see this solution travel up to¬ 
ward the main roots of the plant. If the plant 
happened to be a root crop, such as a potato 
plant, this main root would be very much en¬ 
larged, especially towards the later stages of 
maturity. But let us continue with our “solu¬ 
tion.” The liquid solution continues its progress 
upwards, through the stem of the plant until 
dt finally reaches the leaves of the plant. Now 
perhaps you are commencing to wonder what 
the plant does with all this water, and such a 


HINTS ON SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 19 

comparatively small amount of plant food. This 
is what happens: The leaves evaporate all this 
surplus water, and retain only the elements 
that the plant needs for growth. It is amaz¬ 
ing to learn the amount of water that is evap¬ 
orated by various plants to produce just one 
bushel of grain. For instance, a number of 
corn plants, sufficient to produce one bushel 
of matured corn, will evaporate during one sea¬ 
son, over one hundred and fifty barrels of 
water. A rather startling assertion, is it not? 

Now, let us stay with the plant a little longer, 
and see what happens. Did you ever wonder 
why practically all plants have green leaves? 
As the breakfast food poet would say, “There’s 
a reason.” The plant has a reason for green 
foliage, or leaves. These plants all contain a 
substance known to the botonist as chlorophyll, 
or green coloring matter. Now this green color¬ 
ing matter, or chlorophyll, has the ability, in 
the presence of sunlight, to combine the ele¬ 
ments that present themselves in the leaves, 
and manufacture them into food for the plant. 
For instance, it takes the carbon that is 
breathed in by the plant in the form of carbon 
dioxide, it takes the oxygen from the same 
source, or from water, it takes hydrogen from 
the water, and it takes the nitrogen from the 
solution, as well as all the other mineral ele¬ 
ments that enter the leaves in the water solu¬ 
tion, throws off what it does not need, and uses 
the elements that it does need, making up 
various combinations of these elements, which 
go to nourish the rest of the plant. This 
process cannot take place unless in the presence 


20 HINTS ON SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 


of sunlight, which explains why sunlight is one 
essential factor for plant growth. However, it 
is obvious that sunlight is not necessary for a 
seed to sprout, or to germinate, as the seed is 
already sprouted before it reaches the rays of 
the sun. 

This complicated process continues from the 
time the young seedling reaches the upper crust 
of the earth until the plant finally matures. 
The leaves are regarded as the factory of the 
plant. They manufacture, by the aid of chlo¬ 
rophyll, the plant food from the various ele¬ 
ments that enter the leaves. But perhaps it 
has not yet been made perfectly clear as to 
how the plant is nourished from this food that 
is made in the leaves. The food must be re¬ 
moved from the leaves, or we would have large, 
bulky leaves, that would be the heaviest part 
of the plant. This removal of plant food takes 
place mostly at night, by a process known as 
translocation. The plant food is taken up in a 
stronger solution of water, and carried to the 
other parts of the plant, so that everything is 
in proper balance. 

From what has just been said, it can be seen 
that this process of manufacturing plant food 
could not take place to the maximum capacity 
of the plant, if the proper elements were not 
given to the leaves, and given in sufficient quan¬ 
tity. This problem brings us back to the fer¬ 
tility of the soil, once more. What if just one 
necessary element is lacking in the soil, so 
that the leaves cannot manufacture food enough 
to properly supply the plant with its needs? 
The result will be a plant retarded in growth, 


HINTS ON SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 21 

just as much as that one element is lacking. 
In fact,' the lack of just one element may be 
considered a measuring stick for the yield of 
the crop being raised. If this one element is 
just half enough to supply the needs of the 
crop, then we may consider that we will get 
just half a normal crop, other conditions being 
favorable. 

Many farmers wonder as to the best way 
to find out what element is lacking in their 
soils. It is a common experience to find farm¬ 
ers sending samples of some unproductive piece 
of land to their Experiment Station, to have 
it analyzed, chemically, so they may discover 
this elusive element. But this method fails 
to give the farmer the information that he 
seeks, because, while the chemist can analyze 
his soil, and find out the elements contained 
in the soil, as well as finding the different pro¬ 
portions of the various elements, he cannot tell 
the farmer how much of each element is avail¬ 
able. And this is the point over which the 
farmer is concerned. He doesn’t care a snap 
if he has sixty per cent- of nitrogen locked up 
in his soil, if he is unable to learn the amount 
that is available for plant food. Hence, this 
method is of little use to the farmer who wishes 
to determine the needs of his soil. 

There is a method, however, that is very prac¬ 
tical, and one which any farmer can use, al¬ 
though the results cannot be determined very 
speedily. This method is known as the test 
plot method. As has been stated in a previous 
chapter, the elements most used by plants, out¬ 
side of the gaseous elements, are nitrogen, phos- 


22 HINTS ON SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 


phorus, potash and, especially in the humid cli¬ 
mates, calcium, or lime. A farmer who is 
anxious to find out just what elements his soil 
lacks, can procure a small amount of these ele¬ 
ments, and spread them over a small plot of 
ground in his field, and then note the results 
on the crop being raised in this plot. If this 
material cannot be secured from some local 
fertilizer dealer, the farmer can probably se¬ 
cure this material through the county agricul¬ 
tural agent, or from his State agricultural col¬ 
lege at little or no cost, especially when it is 
made known that it is for experimental pur¬ 
poses. Following is a plan of testing that has 
been found very convenient: 


HINTS ON SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 23 


Length of each plot =4 rods 



Blank Area, 1 rod wide, unfertilized 



Blank Area, 1 rod wide, unfertilized 


■-» 

o 

Qj 

Qj 

CD 


hj 

6 lb. of Potassium Sulphate o 

c+ 

CO 


Blank Area, 1 rod wide, unfertilized 


<1 

o 

6 

lb. 

of Nitrate of Soda 

hj 

Qj 

Qj 

10 

lb. 

of Acid Phosphate 

S 

5 

lb. 

of Potassium Sulphate 


CD 






Layout of Convenient Testing Plot for Fertilizer Tests 






24 HINTS ON SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 

Let us now examine the above plot. We find 
that each plot in the diagram is 4 rods long, 
and one rod wide, with a width of one rod be¬ 
tween each plot on which there is no fertilizer. 
This blank space of one rod wide is left be¬ 
tween each of these plots to serve as a check. 
By this arrangement, the results of each plot 
can be compared very easily to the untreated 
ground, or blank space. It also aids in pre¬ 
venting the fertilizer from one plot from get¬ 
ting over into the other plot, as the width of 
one rod is usually sufficient to overcome any 
defect in the distribution of the fertilizer. 

In plot one, we will apply 5 pounds of nitrate 
of soda. This is a readily available form of 
nitrogen. In plot number two, we will apply 
ten pounds of acid phosphate, a quickly avail¬ 
able form of the phosphorus element. Then in 
our third plot we will apply 5 pounds of potas¬ 
sium sulphate, a good source of potash. Finally, 
in our fourth plot, we will add the three fer¬ 
tilizers that were applied separately in the 
other three plots and apply them all in this 
plot, and in the same amount that they were 
applied in each of the other plots separately. 
Hence we are now in a position to note during 
the growing season, and especially at the ma¬ 
turity of the crop raised, just what element or 
elements are lacking in this particular piece of 
ground, and also an idea of how bad the ele¬ 
ment or elements are needed. It might be 
added at this time, that different crops do not 
respond alike to these tests, as we have pre¬ 
viously noted that corn and cotton, for in- 


HINTS ON SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 25 

stance, remove different proportions of the 
plant food elements. 

In some parts of the country, lime is an im¬ 
portant factor in crop production. In such 
cases, this factor can be determined in the 
same plot, by applying some form of commer¬ 
cial lime to the lower half of the plot, the en¬ 
tire width of the plot. Thus the liming results 
can be noted as well as the fertilizer needs. If 
the lower part of the plot produces a much more 
vigorous growth of plants than the upper half 
of the plot, it may well be concluded that lime 
is needed. This is especially true when some 
form of leguminous plant is raised, such as cow 
peas, soy beans, alfalfa, clover, etc. 

Just one word more about how this fertilizer 
is to be applied. For a small plot, such as just 
described, it is not necessary that a fertilizer 
spreader be secured, although one would be very 
acceptable. In this case the different elements 
can be applied by hand. First mark off the 
plots, having each separate plot marked off, 
one rod wide, and four rods long. Then spread 
this by hand, being careful that this is not done 
on a windy day, so that none of the nitrate of 
soda, for instance, is blown over on to plot 2, 
where the acid phosphate is to be applied. It 
is understood, of course, that this land is al¬ 
ready plowed, at least. Then when this is all 
spread, it should be immediately disced in with 
a disc harrow, so that it is thoroughly incor¬ 
porated in the soil. Then the crop can be 
planted as usual. This method is being used 
successfully all over the country in discovering 


26 HINTS ON SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 

the needs of various types of soil, and is with¬ 
out doubt the most practical method of de¬ 
termining the needs of these soils. 

TILLAGE 

We will next take up the matter of tillage, 
There is no more important process in the man¬ 
agement of farm soils and crops than proper 
tillage. Proper tilth of a soil means the ease 
with which it can be worked. Of course, 
some soils are much easier to till than other 
soils; a sandy loam is much easier to farm than 
a hard, clayey soil. When we say a soil is in 
good tilth, we ordinarily imply that it has a 
crummy structure. A sandy soil does not neces¬ 
sarily need a large amount of organic matter 
to make it easily tilled, because the soil par¬ 
ticles are of sufficient size to maintain good 
tilth anyway. However, a large amount of this 
organic matter, incorporated in the soil is very 
desirable, even in sandy soils, because it serves 
to soak up the moisture for this type of soil, 
which is very important during dry weather. 
In fact, green vegetation, one form of organic 
matter, when turned under, is a big help for 
any kind of soil, as it usually assists in im¬ 
proving the physical character of the soil, and 
is a big factor in conserving the moisture. It 
may be likened to a sponge, in that it soaks 
up the surplus water, and holds it in the soil for 
a much longer period than would be the case, 
if this organic matter were not present. 

There are various reasons why soils are tilled 
on the farm. After a field is plowed, it is 
especially desirable to work up the soil into a 


HINTS ON SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 1 T 

mellow and firm seed bed. This can be done 
by means of the disc harrow, the smoothing 
harrow, or “drag,” and the roller or planker. 
The disc harrow breaks lip the hard lumps into 
fine particles, the “drag” further pulverizes 
these lumps into a smooth seed bed, and the 
roller compacts the top soil, so that there is 
not too much space between the soil particles 
in the plowed surface. While the last named 
implement is not as commonly used as the other 
implements mentioned above, it has its merits, 
and will be found to be a paying proposition on 
most farm land, when preparing the seed bed 
for the various crops. 

Besides requiring the seed bed to be mellow 
and firm, we also want our farm soils tilled to 
aid in destroying weeds, conserving moisture, 
preserving the texture of the soil, and the 
liberation of the plant food elements. Weeds 
are a great source of trouble on a great majority 
of our American farms, and if the crops are not 
cultivated, in many cases, the weeds will 
smother out the original crops, with the result 
that we would get a very meager crop. By 
cultivating, or shallow plowing, between the 
rows of the crops that are capable of being cul¬ 
tivated, the weeds can be held in check, and 
this gives the crop the benefit of the plant food. 
There are a few weeds that are especially 
difficult to kill out, such as quack grass and 
Canada thistle. However, these weeds can be 
eradicated, if the piece of land so infested with 
these weeds is put into some cultivated crop 
for a few years, and a determined effort is put 
forth to kill them out. By constant cultiva- 


28 HINTS ON SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 

tion, and hoeing between the plants in the rows, 
a great deal of this trouble can be remedied. 

Usually after a heavy rain, we find the soil 
hard and compact. If the soil is left in this 
condition, a great amount of the soil water will 
evaporate, which is a considerable loss to the 
crop, as the crop should have the advantage of 
all water in the soil possible. However, if we 
cultivate the soil between the rows of the crops 
that are what we call cultivated crops, we can 
stir up this upper crust of the soil, so that this 
evaporation is almost entirely eliminated. 

Some soils, especially those containing a large 
percentage of clay, have a tendency to bake 
during a long, continued, dry, hot spell. This 
is harmful to the texture of the soil, causing it 
to be hard and lumpy. By stirring the soil 
occasionally, this condition can be eliminated 
to a large extent, and a loose texture main¬ 
tained. 

Finally, the cultivation of the soil also causes 
plant food to be liberated. By the admission of 
air into the soil, certain beneficial bacteria are 
enabled to break down, or decompose the plant 
food from an insoluble form to a soluble form, 
thereby producing more food for the plant to 
take up. 

For those who are not very familiar with 
farming operations, the meaning of cultivated 
crops had better be fully explained. A culti¬ 
vated crop is a crop that is planted in rows, 
so many inches, or feet apart, so as to allow 
a cultivator to go between these rows, during 
the growing season, to stir up the soil for the 
reasons mentioned above. Examples of such 


HINTS ON SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 29 

crops are corn, potatoes, tobacco, and a garden, 
on a somewhat smaller scale than the first 
three mentioned crops. There are, however, a 
great number of farm crops that are not cul¬ 
tivated crops, such as wheat, barley, oats, 
timothy, clover and alfalfa. In a few sections 
of the country, alfalfa, the last named crop, is 
raised as a cultivated crop, but this condition 
only obtains in a small section, where artificial 
irrigation is practised. 

The time of plowing varies in different sec¬ 
tions of the country, as well as in the same sec¬ 
tion of the country, under varying conditions. 
We will present the advantages of both fall and 
spring plowing next, so that the underlying 
factors may be understood, then one can choose 
for himself which is the best time f*or his own 
particular circumstances. 

Most farmers are exceedingly busy in the 
spring of the year, with such operations as 
seeding, hauling the manure out on the land, 
working up seed beds, etc., so that if a great 
deal of plowing is to be done in connection with 
these other pressing duties, they are quite liable 
to fall far behind in their spring work. During 
the fall, until it freezes, and especially after the 
crops have been harvested, the farmer finds it 
to his advantage to plow his land as much as 
possible, until it freezes so hard that he can¬ 
not plow any more. Of course, there are certain 
times that conditions are unfavorable for fall 
plowing, such as when the soil is either too wet, 
or too dry. But there is usually quite a num¬ 
ber of days that he can fall plow to advantage, 
■which means he does not have to plow this field 


30 HINTS ON SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 

in the spring. When sod land is to be plowed, 
it can best be plowed in the fall, as this gives 
the sod a much longer period of time to de¬ 
compose before planting time. Furthermore, 
fall plowing enables the soil to catch the winter 
rains and snows, thus preventing them from 
washing away. It also has a harmful effect 
upon certain crop pests that prey upon the 
crops and destroy them. Finally, it especially 
improves the tilth of heavy or lumpy soils, such 
as clay, for instance. By alternate freezing and 
thawing, these hard lumps are almost pulver¬ 
ized by spring. Thus we see that fall plowing 
has many very distinct advantages. 

Often it is impossible to do very much fall 
plowing, for one reason or another, and, as a 
result the bulk of the plowing is done in the 
spring. When this is the case, the soil 
(especially if a heavy clay) is quite liable to 
have a poor texture, if there are the usual 
spring rains. However, in some cases, spring 
plowing is to be preferred to fall plowing. Often 
it is advisable to sow a green manure crop, 
such as rye, on a piece of ground, after the 
crop has been removed. It can then be left on 
the ground until spring, when the rye can then 
be turned under, thereby supplying organic 
matter to the soil. Also, many sandy soils give 
best results when left until the spring to be 
plowed, as often this type of soil is subject to 
blowing if plowed in the fall. 

We have now quite a pretty fair comprehen¬ 
sion as to the meaning of good tilth. However, 
it must not be concluded that if a soil has 
good tilth that it is necessarily a fertile soil. 


HINTS ON SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 31 

Of course, good tilth is to be desired in a fertile 
soil, but a soil rich in fertility, or plant food, 
may seriously lack good tilth. By the same 
token, a soil possessing good tilth may be 
quite lacking in soil fertility. For instance, a 
sandy soil usually has good tilth, or we may 
say that it is easily worked up. But the chances 
are that this sandy soil is not very rich in 
soil fertility. Hence, we see that there is no 
direct correlation between the two factors. 


FUNCTIONS OF SOIL WATER 

There are several very important reasons why 
plants require water. We have already seen 
something about the activity of water as a car¬ 
rier of plant food from the roots of the plant 
to the leaves, and also noted the fact that the 
water carries the manufactured plant food to 
the various parts of the plant from the leaves. 
The water performs other important functions 
in the plant as well. It is one of the forms 
of food that the plant uses in the process of 
growing. 'The constant evaporation that goes 
on from the leaf surface of the plant has a 
cooling effect upon the plant, thereby prevent¬ 
ing it from succumbing to the intense heat of 
the hot summer temperature. The presence of 
water also prevents the plant from wilting. 

We have noted in a previous chapter that 
crops are ordinarily very large consumers of 
water during the growing season. In one case, 
we noted that it took over one hundred and 
fifty barrels of water to make possible the pro- 


32 HINTS ON SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 

duction of one bushel of matured corn. While 
not all crops are as severe on the moisture 
supply as corn, still, most of the farm crops use 
over one hundred barrels of water during a 
single season to produce one bushel of matured 
grain. From these few observations, it can be 
readily seen that the moisture supply of the 
soil is of prime importance. 

We will now T turn our attention to the supply 
of rainfall during the growing season. Rain¬ 
fall is usually spoken of in inches. If we have 
one inch of rain during one storm, we can say 
that we have indeed had a heavy shower. When 
such an amount of rain falls in one single 
storm, its quantity can easily be appreciated by 
noting the condition of the roads. Ordinary 
roads will not be suited for automobile travel 
for about two days after such a copious rain 
fall, unless chains are used. In some of the 
“gumbo” soils in the west, a much longer period 
is needed for chains. From this we can get 
a fair idea of what “an inch of rain” signifies. 

Unfortunately, we cannot regulate our rain¬ 
fall. We must take it as it comes. Too often 
it comes at the wrong time, and too seldom at 
the opportune time. However, we must make 
the best of these conditions, unless we are lo¬ 
cated in an irrigation district, where the soil 
is moistened artificially. The rainfall is not 
uniform over the entire country. Some parts 
of the country receive, annually, thirty inches 
or more of rainfall. Such climates are termed 
humid climates. Sections where the average 
rainfall is over twenty inches, but less than 
thirty inches per year, are called sub-humid 


HINTS ON SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 33 

climates. Still there are other sections of the 
country, such as in some of our western states, 
where considerably less than twenty inches fall 
in one year. These sections are known as dry 
or arid climates. 

Splendid results would obtain if we could 
have our rains just at the time when they would 
do the most good. Owing to the fact that rain 
comes at irregular intervals, the farmer must 
conserve the moisture as best he can, by proper 
tillage operations, supplying sufficient humus 
to soak up the water, etc. After a heavy rain, 
the farmer usually gets out on the land as 
soon as it is dry enough to work, and breaks 
up the hard crust formed by the rain, and leaves 
a crumbly mass by means of his cultivating im¬ 
plements. This prevents the moisture from 
evaporating too rapidly. 

Soil water may exist in the soil in three 
different forms. It may be present in the soil 
as hygroscopic water. This form is present in 
soil that is air-dried, and is of no special im¬ 
portance. It may also be present as gravita¬ 
tional water. This form is also known as free 
water, and is characterized by its tendency to 
run off the soil, or seep down through the 
soil due to the force of gravity. We see illus¬ 
trations of this form when we get a hard rain. 
Not all of the water has time to be absorbed by 
the soil, and a great quantity runs off the high 
land into brooks and streams at the lower 
levels. 

The third form of soil water is the one with 
which we are most concerned. This form is 
known as capillary water, and it is this form 


34 HINTS ON SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 


of water from which the plant takes its mois¬ 
ture, and also through which it derives its 
plant food elements. Ordinarily, one would be 
led to the conclusion that the low pieces of 
land, which are wet the longest peyiod of the 
year, should produce the greatest yields, due to 
the dependence of crops on the water supply. 
But it has just been stated that the plant does 
not use this free water for its supply, but rather 
the capillary moisture. Let us now examine 
this capillary moisture, as it is an exceedingly 
interesting process. 

There is usually a water line in soils that is 
some distance below the surface of the soil. 
This water, existing in the free state, has a 
tendency to work upwards, at this particular 
point. Its movement upwards is not unlike 
the action of kerosene in the wick of a lamp. 
The water surrounds the fine soil particles, 
forming a thin film of moisture around the sur¬ 
face of these particles. The moisture does not 
stay in one place, but constantly moves over the 
surfaces of these soil particles to a drier point. 
The reason for this constant movement of film 
water is this: Near the surface of the soil, 
especially if the soil is a compact hard mass, 
and lacking cultivation, there is a constantly 
giving off of moisture, either through evapor¬ 
ation from the surface of the soil, or by giving 
up soil moisture to the little rootlets that we 
studied about in a previous chapter. As a re¬ 
sult, the upper portion of the plowed area of 
the land is constantly drawing upon the mois¬ 
ture supply. The tendency of the capillary 
water is to constantly move to the drier sec- 


HINTS ON SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 35 

tion, which is generally towards the top sur¬ 
face. As a result, the capillary moisture film 
of water, which surrounds each soil particle, 
keeps climbing up from one soil particle to an¬ 
other in an effort to reach the dry section. - 
But as soon as it reaches the dry soil particles, 
it may either be absorbed by the rootlets of 
some plant, or, if cultivation is lacking, it will 
be evaporated off from the surface of the soil. 
Thus it will be seen that the plant can continue 
to grow for quite a long period of time despite 
the lack of rain, if there is a good supply of 
capillary moisture. 

This capillary action of soil water, as has 
been stated, is the source from which all plants 
receive their water, which in turn ca rry a weak 
solution of some of the soil elements. It has 
been shown that what moisture is not taken up 
by the plants will evaporate from the surface 
of the soil if conditions are favorable for this 
action. However, man has devised a way by 
which he prevents a large part of this loss of 
moisture. Man has found that if he stirs the 
surface soil, thereby breaking up the soil par¬ 
ticles so that these particles are too far apart 
for the capillary moisture to climb from one 
particle to another, this moisture will come up 
as far as the lower edge of the broken up sur¬ 
face, and remain there, not being able to climb 
to the very top, so that evaporation is thereby 
checked to a great extent. When the soil is 
thus stirred, we say that we have mulched the 
surface of the soil. This mulch, to state the 
matter in another way, is simply the top soil 
stirred up in such a manner that the soil par- 


S6 HINTS ON SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 

tides are not as close together as they were, 
thereby greatly discouraging capillary action 
and evaporation of moisture. 

As the capillary moisture is contained mostly 
* on the surface of the soil particles, it can be 
seen that the smaller the particles are, the 
greater the amount of moisture which can be 
contained in one cubic foot. One can realize 
this perhaps more vividly, if he takes an apple, 
and cuts it up into four quarters. He can then 
realize that he has more surface of the apple 
exposed, when thus cut up, than he did before 
the apple was dissected. Consequently, a soil 
containing fine soil particles, such as clay, or 
even silt, has much more capillary moisture 
capacity than has a sandy soil, as the sandy 
soil particles are the largest in size, and the 
spaces between them too large to cause capil¬ 
lary action. This partially explains why a sandy 
soil will not withstand a dry spell as well as a 
clayey soil. 

Another source of moisture supply in soils is 
the amount of organic matter contained in the 
soils. This has been mentioned before, but we 
will discuss it more in detail at this time. We 
have seen that the organic matter plowed under 
acts somewhat like a sponge, in that it retains 
the moisture in the plowed area to a certain 
extent. This aids the plant during the dry 
spells, as it furnishes the soil particles with 
moisture if the supply below is exhausted. It 
also aids in another way, by preventing too 
much of the water during a heavy rain from 
leaching down through the soil. Besides these 
advantages in regard to moisture, it also aids 


HINTS ON SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 37 

in the tilth of the soil. A soil is always much 
easier to work when it contains a good supply 
of this decaying vegetable matter. 

Soil water is appreciated in some of our dry¬ 
farming sections much more than it ordinarily 
is in the humid parts of the country. In the 
dry-farming sections, where the annual rain¬ 
fall is less than twenty inches, every effort is 
put forth to conserve this mmsuire. It often 
becomes necessary to raise a crop on a piece 
of land every other year, rather than every 
year, as there would not be sufficient moisture 
to mature a crop every year. Hence, a farmer, 
under these conditions might put various crops 
in 160 acres of his farm one year, if he owned 
a 320-acre farm, and “summer fallow” the other 
160 acres. This is under the supposition, of 
course, that every acre was under the plow. 
By “summer fallowing,” we simply mean that 
the land is worked up so that a mulch will be 
placed on the surface of the soil, especially after 
a rain, so that the moisture will not escape. 
This shows us that the moisture supply is an 
extremely important issue and that the wise 
farmer, whether he lives in a dry climate or a 
wet climate, will do everything possible to con¬ 
serve the moisture, as the success of his crops 
depends more upon this factor, year in and 
year out, than any other one thing. 


38 HINTS ON SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 


NATURAL METHODS OF ENRICHING THE 

SOIL 

There are two important and practical ways 
by which the soil may be enriched, naturally. 
These methods are the addition of green 
manure and barnyard manure. We will con¬ 
sider the green manure proposition first. A 
green manure crop is a crop that is raised for 
the express purpose of plowing it under when at 
a certain stage of growth. There are many such 
crops raised by the farmers of this country an¬ 
nually, for the purpose of improving the tex¬ 
ture of their farm land. Crops such as rye, or 
clover, make excellent green manure crops. 
They should be turned under, or plowed under, 
when still green, but not when they have grown 
too rank. If turned under when they are tall 
and coarse, this serves as a check for the rise 
of the capillary moisture, and the following 
crop is liable to dry out, due to the interception 
of the capillary moisture from below. 

Leguminous crops, or crops that manufacture 
nitrogen in small nodules on their roots, by 
means of bacteria, are the best green manure 
crops to raise, because they not only improve 
the texture of the soil by their decaying 
vegetative matter, but also add considerable 
nitrogen to the soil as well, because of the 
activities of the bacteria present in the roots of 
such plants. As nitrogen is an important 
elememt in the soil, this factor is being con¬ 
sidered seriously by many farmers to-day, in 
their efforts to increase the nitrogen supply of 
their soils. 


HINTS ON SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 39 

More important in the upkeep of the soil 
fertility of the American farm land, however, 
is the problem of barnyard manure. We Amer¬ 
ican farmers have much to learn yet in tfea 
proper Handling of the farm manure from our 
European cousins. As a whole, the American 
farmers do not appreciate the fact that the 
liquid portion of the manure is the richest part 
of the fertility, and anyone familiar with farm 
conditions can testify to the fact that it is an 
all too common practice in this country of 
dumping the manure daily, throughout the year, 
in a heap outside the barn door, where the 
liquid is allowed to run off or evaporate, so 
that when what is left is hauled out on the 
land, more than half of the fertilizing value of 
the manure has been lost, and the only ad¬ 
vantage of the remains lies in its rich supply 
of organic matter, rather than in the maximum 
suppy of fertilizer. 

There are, in general, two ways by which 
this manure can be handled properly by the 
farmer, so that this loss of liquid material can 
be largely eliminated. One way is the use of 
the manure pit, that has a concrete base and 
sides, so that none of the liquid can leach 
away. This pit should also be provided with 
a roof, to keep out excessive rains. Many farm¬ 
ers have devised the system of having an over¬ 
head track run from the barn to this manure 
pit, or shed, and have the manure transported 
in a carrier which travels on this track. The 
load can be dumped then, when it reaches the 
shed, and returned to the barn. This method 
allows the farmer to save practically all of his 


40 HINTS ON SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 

fertility during the winter months, and then 
he can haul this material out on his land in 
the spring, and spread it by means of the wide¬ 
ly used manure spreader. 

There is another method that is also used 
by many farmers in saving this fertilizer, and 
that is the process of hauling it out every day 
during the winter, directly from the barn. This 
is more tedious, as there are many days dur¬ 
ing the winter when it is almost impossible 
to get out on the land, due to snow storms, 
etc. Where the land is hilly, it is not advis¬ 
able to spread manure in the winter time, as 
a considerable portion of the liquid material 
will run off sloping land, and be lost. How¬ 
ever, this objection can be overcome by wait¬ 
ing until spring to spread the manure on the 
hilly portions and fertilizing all the level land 
during the winter months. This method of 
hauling saves rehandling in the spring. This 
fact is appreciated by many farmers, who al¬ 
ways have about twice as much to do as they 
can accomplish during the spring months^ 
There is also a slight loss of beneficial bacteria 
incurred by this method, but not enough to 
offset any of its advantages. On the whole, 
this method has been worked out very satis¬ 
factorily by quite a large number of American 
farmers. 

There is quite a direct correlation between 
the kind of feed given to farm animals, and 
the value of the manure. Animals that are fed 
feeds low in protein produce a manure that 
is also low in nitrogen. This is a factor worthy 
of attention. Inasmuch as barnyard manure, 


HINTS ON SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 41 


even when handled with the utmost efficiency, 
is not a complete or perfect fertilizer, it is im¬ 
portant that the farmer bring up to as high a 
standard as possible the manure which he ap¬ 
plies on his land. This he can do by feeding 
his animals efficient rations having a sufficient 
quantity of protein in the feeds, and when ex¬ 
ercising care in preventing losses through 
leaching, as has just been described. 

There is another quite common method of 
handling manure on the farm, and that is the 
practice of hauling it out to the fields in piles. 
This method, while superior to the old method 
cf leaving it in the barnyard all winter, has 
its faults, however. The field in which the 
manure is piled will be uneven the next year, 
as the liquid will leach to quite an extent in 
the particular spots where the piles are located. 
This method also involves a rehandling in the 
spring, although the time consumed in this 
case is not as great as when it has to be hauled 
from the barnyard. One can easily pick out 
fields, during the summer time, where this 
method has been employed. The spots where 
the heaps of manure had been piled produce 
much more abundant, rank crops than the sur¬ 
rounding area, thereby causing difficulty in 
harvesting. 

It is certainly interesting lo observe the 
methods of some of the European countries in 
their fertility problems. In these countries, 
especially in France, the manure is piled on 
solid foundations, to prevent leaching, and 
many other materials are constantly added to 
the pile during the year, such as leaves, stub- 


42 HINTS ON SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 

ble, straw, and even discarded wearing apparel, 
and then this mixture is applied to the land in 
the spring. The time will soon come in this 
country, with land not so plentiful, when we 
shall be forced to stop this huge waste of fer¬ 
tility, that is leaching away from the farmer 
every day, and to substitute a more careful 
and more efficient method. 


COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS 

We have seen in the previous chapter that 
barnyard manure, even when given the most 
intelligent care, does not return to the soil all 
of the plant food removed by the crops. Con¬ 
sequently, it is not difficult to conclude that 
when this manure is improperly handled, an 
even greater loss is sustained by the farmer. 
In order that this land may be kept perpetual¬ 
ly productive, this barnyard manure must be 
supplemented by some other form of fertilizer. 
This brings us to the discussion of “commer¬ 
cial” fertilizers. 

The use of commercial fertilizers is not uni¬ 
versal, by any means. These fertilizers find 
their greatest use on the lands that have been 
farmed the longest in this country. Many of the 
states in the eastern part of our country use 
commercial fertilizers to a large extent. While 
it is true that some of these fertilizers are used 
in the western states, their application is not 
nearly as common in this section as in the 
East. For instance, a western farmer might 
apply two or three hundred pounds of the fer- 


HINTS ON SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 43 

tilizer per acre and get splendid results, while 
it is quite common for a potato grower in the 
State of Maine to apply a ton to the acre. 
There is a certain prejudice against these fer¬ 
tilizers among some farmers, but it may be 
said that the proper use of commercial fer¬ 
tilizers is a paying proposition. Some farmers 
believe that after a farm has once had com¬ 
mercial fertilizer applied to it, the land “burns 
out,” and that in order to get crops thereafter, 
he must continually resort to this form of fer¬ 
tilizer. This is a mistaken notion, however, 
because when these fertilizers are used intelli¬ 
gently they do not “burn out” the land, nor 
make it “lazy.” One good use of these fertiliz¬ 
ers was described in a previous chapter under 
the test plot method. When a land is deficient 
in nitrogen, for instance, is it not a far better 
practice to supply that lacking nitrogen in the 
form of some kind of fertilizer, than to try to 
farm the land with its lack of nitrogen? Any¬ 
one can see the common sense of the argument 
who is willing to reason from facts. 

We have discussed briefly, in the chapter on 
test plots something about commercial fertiliz¬ 
ers, but we will now endeavor to study more 
thoroughly this phase of soil improvement. 
We have already learned that nitrogen, phos-- 
phorus and potassium, otherwise known as 
potash, are the chief elements which the plants 
draw from the soil. Consequently, these three 
elements are the ones that must be replenished 
continuously. Let us take each of these ele¬ 
ments separately, and see how each one can 
be handled in the most successful manner. 


44 HINTS ON SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 

Nitrogen is restored to the soil, we have 
learned, by means of raising leguminous crops, 
and this is especially true when these crops 
are turned under. Also, there is a good sup¬ 
ply of nitrogen in the barnyard manure when 
applied to the land. But often, as has just 
been stated, over half of this is lost through 
careless handling of the manure, and, further¬ 
more, there usually is only enough manure 
on the ordinary farm to cover but a small 
area of the farm each year. Therefore, if we 
are to obtain the highest production from our 
land, we must plan to add this nitrogen in a 
commercial form. 

Nitrate of soda is one of the most popular 
forms of commercial nitrogen fertilizer. This 
form of nitrogen is very readily available as a 
plant food, and because of this fact, it is usu¬ 
ally applied at different intervals, rather than 
all at once, because it readily leaches out of 
the soil. This fertilizer is usually applied at 
the rate of 200 to 300 pounds per acre. 

Ammonium sulphate, cotton seed meal and 
dried blood are often used as a source of nitro¬ 
gen, especially the ammonium sulphate. These 
forms of nitrogen are not as easily available 
as the nitrate of soda; therefore, results will 
not be noticed as quickly with these forms as 
with the soda compound. 

Acid phosphate is the most readily avail¬ 
able florin of the phosphorus fertilizer. This 
is usually applied on the land at the rate of 
from 200 to 500 pounds to the acre. Another 
form of phosphate is the rock phosphate, which 
is merely ground up rock containing a high per- 


HNTS ON SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 45 

centage of phosphorus. This is very slowly 
available, and results from this source cannot 
be noticed for a year or two after it has been 
applied. However, it is much cheaper in cost, 
and many farmers follow the practice of mix¬ 
ing some of this with every load of manure 
that is spread on the land, thereby making 
the spreading of this form a simple matter. 
Steamed bone meal, finely ground up, offers 
another source of commercial phosphorus. 
This is a by-product from the large packing 
plants and after the bones are steamed at 
these plants, they are ground up, and sold 
out, especially to truck gardeners, for phos¬ 
phorus fertilizer. This form is usually applied 
at the rate of 200 to 300 pounds per acre. 

Potash fertilizers have in the past been 
largely supplied from the Stassfurt mines of 
Germany. This is a large potash salt deposit, 
and these mines alone have supplied a good 
share of the world’s potash in the past. The 
chief combinations of this fertilizer in com¬ 
mercial form are sulphate of potash, muriate 
of potash and kainit. These are various forms 
of Stassfurt potash salts, and are all soluble 
in water. Unleached wood ashes also contain 
a fair amount of potash, especially hardwood 
ashes burned at a comparatively low heat. If 
these ashes have been exposed to the rains, 
however, they are of. little value as fertilizers. 

In our previous study of the test plots (see 
page 23) we found that we could determine by 
that method just what a certain piece of land 
needed by way of fertilizers. Often a farmer 
finds that he gets best reults by applying what 


46 HINTS ON SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 

is known as mixed fertilizers. A mixed fer¬ 
tilizer is a combination of the three fertilizers 
that we have been dscussing, namely, nitro¬ 
gen, phosphorus and potassium. In such a 
case, there is no serious lack in the soil of 
just one element, but the conclusion is that 
all three are more or less needed. 

Another element that is sometimes needed 
by soils is that known as calcium, or lime. 
While lime is regarded chiefly as a soil neu¬ 
tralizer, it is a fact that it is often used by 
plants as food. Alfalfa and tobacco are good 
examples of heavy lime feeders. When it is 
found that lime is needed, this can be applied 
the same as the other fertilizers, about a ton 
to three tons to the acre. We will take this 
matter of lime more in detail in the follow¬ 
ing chapter. 


SOIL ACIDITY 

It seems to be a common experience of 
many farmers that their land fails to grow cer¬ 
tain crops as well as in previous years. Of 
course, there may be various reasons for this 
state of affairs, but one of the most frequent 
and important, in the humid climates, at least, 
is the absence of lime in the soil. Crops like 
alfalfa and clover, for instance, are often fail¬ 
ures in humid climates, for no other reason 
than a lack of lime. These particular crops 
do not succeed because the bacteria (which 
we have mentioned before as working in the 
roots of these plants and converting the nitro¬ 
gen of the soil air into nitrogen that the plant 
pan utilize) cannot work in a soil that is not 


HINTS ON SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 47 

up to the standard in lime. We term such a 
soil deficient in lime, an acid, or a sour soil. 

There is only one practical way by which this 
sour, or acid, soil can be sweetened, and that 
is by applying lime in some form. But this 
liming aids in other ways, incidentally, besides 
neutralizing the acidity of the soil. It adds 
plant food in the form of lime, which is used 
quite heavily by certain plants. Strange to say, 
other plant foods existing in the soil are made 
more available by the addition of lime. Lime 
also improves the structure of the soil, thus 
causing the soil to be more easily worked. 

It is not an uncommon experience for a 
farmer to try to get a start in raising alfalfa, 
which is without doubt one of the best forage 
crops that we have. He may choose his best 
piece of ground, and may take ever so many 
other precautions, but if the land is acid, he 
will have poor success, because, as stated be¬ 
fore, the bacteria in the soil, so essential to this 
crop, cannot exist in an acid soil. The only 
way in which he can succeed in raising this 
crop, providing he has a well drained piece of 
land, and has the bacteria introduced into the 
soil, if not already present, is to apply lime on 
this land. If this is done, the chances are very 
much in his favor in securing a good stand of 
alfalfa. 

The next problem that confronts us is the 
manner of determining the acidity of our soils. 
How can we tell if our land is acid or not? 
There are various methods of reaching a con¬ 
clusion in this matter. The old method con¬ 
sisted of using a small strip of blue litmus pa- 


48 HINTS ON SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 

per, and bring this in contact with some moist 
soil. If the blue color of the litmus paper 
changed to a reddish hue, then we would know 
that the soil was acid. But a weak acid soil 
would change the color of this blue litmus pa¬ 
per just as much as a strong acid soil would. 
Hence, by this method, the farmer did not know 
how much lime should be applied to correct 
the acidity. Within the last few years, how¬ 
ever, the Truog Acidity Test has become avail¬ 
able, and it is now a matter of but about five 
minutes’ time to determine accurately not only 
how acid the soil is, but a chart is also pro¬ 
vided, showing just how many tons of lime 
should be applied to the acre for that par¬ 
ticular field. Most state experiment stations 
have this test, or a similar one, and any farmer 
can either send a small sample of his soil to 
his state experiment station, or agricultural col¬ 
lege, and they will run the test off for him. 
Possibly, the county agricultural agent has 
one of these, and as he is in the county for 
such purposes every farmer who is anxious to 
determine the acidity of his soils should take 
the proper steps to obtain a reliable answer to 
his problem. 

The luxurious growth of certain weeds is al¬ 
most a sure sign of acid soils. Such weeds as 
the common plantain, sheep sorrel, corn spurry 
and horsetail all thrive best on these acid soils. 

There are many different forms of lime that 
can be applied to the soil to correct the acidity. 
Ground limestone, burnt lime, marl, marble 
dust, pulverized corals and shells are different 
forms of lime that may be used. However, the 


HINTS ON SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 49 

first two are the forms most commonly used. 
Ground limestone is a reliable form of lime to 
use, although not quite as quick in its response, 
as the burnt lime. In many communities there 
are large deposits of lime rock that are capable 
of being crushed and ground finely enough for 
agricultural purposes. When this can be se¬ 
cured, it will probably be the cheapest source 
available, unless the distance of hauling is too 
great. A farmer might plan to haul this lime 
during the summer or fall, but as he generally 
will not have the time for such extra work, he 
may safely leave it for the more leisure winter 
days, without a serious loss of results. 

Another form of agricultural lime is lump, 
or burnt lime, already mentioned. This is made 
by heating the limestone to an intense heat, 
in specially constructed kilns, thus driving off 
the impurities, and leaving the common lump 
lime. When this lime in the lump form is 
finely ground, it is ready to put on the land. 
There are many companies that make a busi¬ 
ness of preparing this lime, and selling it in 
carload lots to groups of farmers. 

In regard to the time of applying the lime 
on the land, it might be said that the sooner 
it is applied, the better. If it can be put on 
during the fall, after a crop has been har¬ 
vested, and allowed to stay in the soil over 
winter, much better results will be obtained 
than putting it on the land just before the crop 
is put in, in the spring. Whenever lime is put 
on, fall or spring, it should be thoroughly 
worked into the soil, rather than allowed to 
remain on top. 


50 HINTS ON SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 


SOIL FERTILITY DETERMINES YIELD 

The term, “fertile soil,” has been used in this 
little booklet with reference to the amount of 
plant food in the soil. However, under prac¬ 
tical conditions, we find that sometimes a soil 
may have a good supply of the needed plant 
food elements, but nevertheless fail to yield a 
satisfactory crop. That is to say, a soil, to be 
productive, requires not only sufficient plant 
food in available form, but certain other con¬ 
ditions, such as good seed to start with, light, 
a warm temperature, protection from the 
various harmful agencies, such as insects and 
diseases, and plenty of humus, or organic mat¬ 
ter in the soil. Thus to get the maximum 
yields of our farm crops, we must understand 
that while plant food is absolutely essential, 
it is not the only factor to be considered if we 
are to get best results. 

« 

Just what is the importance of good seed? 
Suppose we plant an acre of corn with seed 
that has poor germination. Let us say that 
the germination of this corn is 75 per cent, or 
that 75 kernels out of every 100 kernels sprout. 
The best that we can do under these circum¬ 
stances, providing we have other conditions 
ideal, is to get a 75 per cent yield. This is a 
costly affair to the farmer, as 25 per cent of 
his acre of land is wasted, and weeds will take 
possession of the wasted land, if the land is 
not closely cultivated. Of course, the farmer 
can go to the bother of replanting the missing 
kernels, but this is also a drain upon the farm- 


HINTS ON SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 51 

er’s time during this busy period. It is a fact 
that a great many farmers do not test out the 
germination of their seeds before planting their 
seed, often with disastrous results. In fact, 
often a farmer has to replant an entire crop 
because of the failure of his seed to. germinate. 

The quality of the seed also is a matter 
worthy of consideration. Is it worth while to 
pay a little more for seed of good quality, such 
as corn, for instance, or shall the farmer go 
to the local elevator and purchase a lot of or¬ 
dinary crib corn for planting purposes? To 
be sure, he can get crib corn for just about 
market price, whereas he would have to pay 
two or three dollars a bushel for good seed 
corn. But he can make many times the dif¬ 
ference in his yield of corn by paying a little 
more for good quality seed corn, that has been 
selected for high yield, and that has been cured 
properly, than he can by trusting to the out¬ 
come of his cheaper corn. The same problem 
of proper seed applies to other crops; I have 
only taken corn as an example to illustrate the 
situation for all crops. 

We have seen in a previous chapter that light 
is essential for the manufacture of plant food 
by the chlorophyll present in the leaves of the 
plant. This is a factor generally beyond the 
control of the farmer, as he has to take the 
light as it is given to him by the sun. But the 
fact remains that crops have to have a certain 
amount of sunlight to make this plant food, 
although some plants demand much more sun¬ 
light than others. In fact, some plants re¬ 
quire very little sunlight to mature. This is 


62 HINTS ON SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 

illustrated in the State of Conneticut, where 
tobacco is raised largely in the shade, under 
canvas tops. A very excellent quality of to¬ 
bacco is raised in this state by having the to¬ 
bacco land covered most of the season with 
large canvas tops, so that the shade can be 
artificially controlled. 

Why do not farm crops grow during the win¬ 
ter? This is apparently a foolish question, but 
it brings out the importance of the need of a 
warm temperature for plant production. Some 
. crops will grow in comparatively cool weather, 
while others need a warm climate to grow to 
best advantage. We always plant our oats a 
few weeks earlier than we do our corn, because 
we have found that oats will grow at a lower 
temperature than corn will. 

Another factor that is gowing more impor¬ 
tant each year in the production of our farm 
crops, is the matter of insects and pests. Nearly 
every crop raised at the present time has some 
natural enemy, either an insect or a plant dis¬ 
ease. Most of us can recall the struggle of 
our potato plants during the growing season, 
as a good illustration of this fact. We know 
that the ever present Colorado Potato Beetle, 
commonly known as the “potato bug,” will eat 
up a good part of the foliage of the potato 
plant, if it is not given a stomach poison of 
seme such material as Paris Green, or arsenate 
of lead, sprayed on the foliage. Then the mat¬ 
ter of diseases demands attention. We can 
again refer to the potato plant in regard to 
guch diseases. Either early blight, or late 
blight is a common enemy to the foliage of 


HINTS ON SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 53 

these plants, especially when the season is 
moist during the time that these diseases are 
prevalent. As a matter of fact, every crop that 
the farmer raises, has to fight a struggle 
against these insidious enemies. Many farmers 
are aware of the chinch bug, boll weevil, grass¬ 
hoppers, cutworms, as good examples of insect 
pests, and of rust, smut and other fungus dis¬ 
eases that play havoc with the farm crops dur¬ 
ing the growing season. 

We have discussed the benefits of humus, or 
organic matter, in the soils. We have learned 
that this material is simply decaying vegetable 
matter in the soil. No soil is very productive 
that lacks any appreciable amount of this ma¬ 
terial, as this humus is a great factor in im¬ 
proving the tilth of the soil, and its fertility. 
When a field is sow r n to certain cultivated 
crops, and these crops are removed from the 
land, and nothing is put back into the soil, 
then we have a soil soon deficient in organic 
matter. The soil becomes hard and difficult to 
work. This can be remedied by a method 
known as “rotation of crops,” whereby differ¬ 
ent crops are raised on the same field in suc¬ 
cessive years, and one of these crops should 
be a hay crop, such as clover, for instance. The 
clover can be raised on the piece for two or 
three years, and finally plowed under, thus 
providing a good supply of vegetation to sup¬ 
ply this organic matter, and incidentally fur¬ 
nishing considerable nitrogen. 

Besides the factors already mentioned deter¬ 
mining the yields of farm crops, we might men¬ 
tion a few other requisites that are essential 


54 HINTS ON SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 

to a fertile soil, if maximum yields are to be 
expected. We must have a sufficient amount 
of moisture in the soil, because we have seen 
how the plant takes its food in the form of a 
weak solution. If this moisture is not present 
£& the soil, then, no matter how much plant 
food is present in the soil, it will be of little 
value to the plant, because it has to depend 
upon moisture to supply its food in a form in 
which it can utilize it. In s6me of the dry 
sections of the country, this moisture is sup¬ 
plied by means of irrigation, where certain wa¬ 
ter paths are provided, running down ^through 
the field at regular intervals. This furnishes 
the moisture necessary to dissolve the elements 
in the soil, so that the small rootlets of the 
plants can absorb the moisture containing the 
plant food. Many of our best crops are raised 
in these irrigated districts. Sometimes, how¬ 
ever, we find that we have too much moisture 
in the soil. This is especially true in low 
places. It then becomes necessary to drain the 
soil of this excess moisture, so that the spaces 
between the soil grains are not clogged with 
water, and that sufficient air may be present. 
It has been estimated that considerably over 
one-fifth of the land in this country, capable 
of being cultivated, needs drainage, and that 
in the near future all this land will be drained, 
to supply the ever-increasing demand of farm¬ 
ing-land. 

If the spaces between the soil particles are 
filled with water, it is obvious that air cannot 
be present in the soil. Strange as it may seem, 
a certain amount of air is essential in the soil, 


HINTS ON SOILS AND FERTILIZERS £5 

because the roots of the plants will not grow 
if they cannot obtain air. Also, it is a common 
expression amongst soil experts, to say that 
crops will not grow when they have “wet feet.” 
This means that the roots of plants will not go 
down into the water for their plant food, be¬ 
cause they would be unable to breathe, if they 
did. The presence of air also favors the de¬ 
velopment of beneficial soil organisms and is 
an aid to certain valuable chemical changes 
which are continually taking place in the soil. 

From what has been said, it is evident that 
there are several other factors determining the 
yielding ability of a soil, besides the mere 
amount of plant food contained in it. Not that 
it is the desire of the writer to lessen the im¬ 
portance of the presence of available plant food 
in the soil. This matter is all important. But 
it is not the only factor to be borne in mind, 
if we are to get the most from our soil. We 
must also lock to such matters as proper tilth, 
good seed, favorable temperature, protection 
from natural enemies, and bear in mind the 
importance of replenishing the soil constantly 
with a sufficient amount of organic matter. 
When we take these precautions, we will have 
little difficulty in securing excellent results 
for our efforts. 


56 HINTS ON SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 


BENEFITS FROM SOIL ORGANISMS 

Soil organisms, and the benefits derived from 
these minute organisms, form a subject with 
which few farmers are familiar. Of these vari¬ 
ous soil organisms, bacteria are without doubt 
the most numerous, and also the most impor¬ 
tant. We do not ordinarily appreciate the great 
quantity of these bacteria that are present in 
the soil, neither do we begin to realize the im¬ 
mense number found in just a thimble-full of 
ordinary soil. It is no mis-statement of facts 
when we say that an ordinary thimble-full of 
soil contains about one billion of these micro¬ 
organisms. (A “micro-organism” is an organ¬ 
ism which is too small to be seen by the naked 
eye, becoming visible under a powerful micro¬ 
scope.) This will serve to give us some idea 
of their number as well as their importance. 
There are three kinds of bacteria that we will 
especially emphasize, namely, those that cause 
decomposition, those which convert nitrogen 
from the air, and those which convert nitrogen 
from material already in the soil. 

If we stop to ponder for a moment, we will 
have to admit that there is some agency al¬ 
ways at work decomposing material things in 
this world. For instance, if we leave rubbish 
exposed to the weather for any length of time, 
and note the condition of the rubbish at some 
later date, we find that it is not in the same 
physical condition as it was when we first de¬ 
posited it. It has undergone some decomposi¬ 
tion. In fact, this decaying process is always 


HINTS ON SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 67 

at work, either on top of the soil, or in the 
soil. This process takes place more rapidly in 
the soil, however, than on top of the soil, due 
to the fact, that these decomposing organisms 
are far more numerous within the soil than 
elsewhere. When we add any kind of material 
to the soil, and then turn this material under, 
so that it is thoroughly incorporated in the soil, 
these bacteria at once begin to break up the 
material into some of its original elements. If 
such a decaying process were not possible, we 
could easily see that the world would be littered 
up with an immense amount of trash from past 
products. 

When the farmer turns under, by means of 
the plow, the various materials that we have 
discussed in these pages, these bacteria im¬ 
mediately commence to decompose this ma¬ 
terial, so that in a reasonable length of time, 
it is broken up into its several original ele¬ 
ments, and these elements are then ready to 
be taken up by some other plant, and begin 
their nourishing function anew. Thus we see 
that there is a continual rotation of these ele¬ 
ments. We can change the forms of these ele¬ 
ments in various ways, but we can never de¬ 
stroy them, they are ever present in some 
form to be used again and again. 

The story of the bacteria, which live in small 
nodules on the roots of leguminous plants, is 
intensely interesting to anyone, and particularly 
so to the farmer who is in the habit of raising 
any great quantity of such crops. Anyone can 
see these nodules, or small bunches, on the 
roots of such leguminous plants by pulling up 


58 HINTS ON SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 

a clover or an alfalfa plant. These nodules 
serve as small houses in which these bacteria 
that convert the nitrogen of the air into nitro¬ 
gen for the plant, live. When the soil is not 
too acid, these bacteria enter the roots of these 
plants, in great numbers, and have the peculiar 
ability of taking the nitrogen from the air— 
the air enclosed between the particles of the 
soil—and changing it so that the plant can use 
this nitrogen for growth. In return, the bac¬ 
teria suck a small part, of the plant juices from 
the plant, but not in a sufficient amount to 
cause any check in the growth of the plant. 
When the crop has been cut, or harvested, and 
the season is too far along to make any more 
real growth, these bacteria then leave the 
roots of these plants and return to the soil. 

In soils that are quite acid, these bacteria, 
for some reason that has not yet been deter¬ 
mined, cannot thrive, and we must add lime 
to make it possible for them to work. If we 
wish to get a crop of alfalfa started, and the 
particular kind of bacteria that work on alfalfa 
roots are not present, what then? Well, we 
could do one of two things. We could either 
go to a field that had already raised alfalfa on 
it, and take off a few bushels of the soil, and 
haul it over to the field that was to be sown 
to alfalfa. This soil from the field that already 
had raised alfalfa would contain a sufficient 
number of these bacteria to give the new alfalfa 
a good start. But this method is sometimes a 
very laborious job. A much simpler method is 
for the farmer to send to his Agricultural Col¬ 
lege, and ask them to send him a bottle of 


HINTS ON SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 59 

bacteria “culture,” that contains countless bil¬ 
lions of these living bacteria. By sprinkling 
this liquid culture on the alfalfa seed just be¬ 
fore sowing it, he can very easily inoculate 
his soil; he can buy enough from this source 
for twenty-five cents to supply one acre of soil. 
There is still another form of these helpful bac¬ 
teria that we have not as yet discussed, and 
that is the nitrifying bacteria, so called. These 
bacteria are unlike the bacteria just discussed, 
in that they do not add any nitrogen to the soil 
by taking it from the air, but simply change in¬ 
soluble forms of nitrogen already present in the 
soil, to soluble forms of nitrogen which the 
plant can use. Most of this insoluble nitrogen 
is found in the organic matter that we have 
learned about. Hence, if there is not a suffi¬ 
cient supply of organic matter in the soil, there 
will be a shortage of this all important ele¬ 
ment, nitrogen. 

There are many different kinds of bacteria 
found in soil, and most of these are beneficial 
to the crops. There are a few kinds, however, 
which are really harmful to crop production, in 
that they tend to waste some of the elements 
In the soil that should go to nourish the crops. 
These bacteria, however, thrive best when ther» 
is only a limited amount of air in the soil. The 
farmer can largely eliminate these harmful bac¬ 
teria from his soil by aerating his soil and by 
various methods of cultivation, so that a liberal 
supply of air is always present in the soil. When 
this condition obtains, these harmful bacteria 
will have little opportunity for their destructive 
work. 


60 HINTS ON SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 


CROP ROTATION AND SOIL FERTILITY 

There is a close relationship between the 
rotation of crops, and soil fertility. By rota¬ 
tion of crops, we simply mean that for any 
given field on a farm, a different crop is raised 
each year, instead of raising the same crop on 
the same piece, year in and year out. This 
practice of rotating the crops each year on the 
farm is not a new system, nor can it be said 
that it is a comparatively old idea. In fact, 
many of our forefathers used to plant wheat 
on the same piece of land, year after year, un¬ 
til the crops dropped to such a low yielding 
stage, that it was no longer profitable to raise 
wheat on these lands. It is a generally ac¬ 
cepted idea now that rotation of crops is the 
only sane method for permanent agriculture. 
We have already noted that different plants 
take varying amounts of plant food from the 
soil in one season. Let us take a specific in¬ 
stance to make this a bit clearer. Suppose that 
we grow corn on a piece of ground for five 
years in succession. What is the result? Is 
the fifth year’s crop as large as the first year’s 
crop? No, ordinarily, we would find quite a 
difference in the two yields. Then why is the 
last crop so much below the first one in yield? 
Corn is a heavy feeder of nitrogen, the ordi¬ 
nary corn crop on one acre, in one season, re¬ 
moving about 95 pounds of nitrogen. By rais¬ 
ing corn in succession for five years, we find 
that we are drawing unusually heavily on the 
nitrogen supply, with the result that the amount 


HINTS ON SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 61 

of available nitrogen present in the soil become* 
the limiting factor. If there is only about half 
enough nitrogen in this piece of land the fifth 
year to produce a normal corn crop, then, as 
stated in an earlier chapter, we will get but 
half a corn crop, the yield being determined 
by the limiting factor, which in this case is 
nitrogen. 

But what happens if we plant different crops 
each succeeding year? We will find that we 
get about a normal crop in each case, as the 
next crop, planted after corn, is selected be¬ 
cause it is not such a heavy feeder on nitro¬ 
gen, but uses more than a normal supply of 
either phosphorus or potash. One very com¬ 
mon rotation in the Middle West is corn one 
year, oats one year, and clover two or more 
years, the clover being seeded with the oats 
the second year. This is done because the 
clover does not make any appreciable growth 
the first year, so farmers always sow this with 
a grain crop the year before they plan to use 
the clover crop. There are different rotations 
for practically every part of the country, so 
that no hard and fast rule can be laid down as 
to the best rotation to follow. The climate, na¬ 
ture of the crops raised, and various other fac¬ 
tors all enter into the matter of selecting the 
best rotation for any particular locality. 

There is another decided advantage in rotat¬ 
ing crops besides those already mentioned, and 
this is the control of insect pests and diseases. 
By changing the land every year for each crop, 
the insects and especially the diseases are more 
easily controlled. Let us take the potato 


62 HINTS ON SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 

again as a crop to illustrate the point. Most 
of us are quite familiar with the potato dis¬ 
ease known as potato scab. This is a disease 
that attacks the skin of the potato, causing a 
rough appearance of the skin, and lowering the 
value of the potato materially. This is a 
fungus disease, and, we might say, “lives” in 
the ground over winter, and it is usually spread 
by planting potatoes that are affected with 
scab. If we raise one crop of potatoes on a 
certain piece of land one year, and the result¬ 
ing potatoes are “scabby,” we should not raise 
another crop of potatoes on this same piece for 
about four years afterwards, if we wish to eradi¬ 
cate the disease, as the next crop of potatoes, 
if planted on this land the following year, will 
acquire this scab from the ground, whether 
we plant potatoes free from scab, or not. Hence, 
we can see that rotation of crops helps in more 
ways than one to produce better crops. 

It is a well-known fact among farmers that 
one of the most effective ways of killing out 
weeds, is to keep the field in cultivated crops 
for a few years. By rotating the crops in a 
certain field that is unusually infested with 
some noxious weed, such as quack grass, the 
weeds can soon be eradicated, if an earnest ef¬ 
fort is put forth, not only with the cultivators, 
but by hoeing between the plants in the same 
row. If, however, a forage crop, or a crop that 
is not capable of being cultivated, is allowed to 
grow on a weedy piece for a number of years, 
then the weeds are liable to finally take pos¬ 
session of the field, unless an unusually vigor¬ 
ous stand of the forage crop is maintained. 


HINTS ON SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 63 


CONCLUSIONS 

There is probably no more fascinating study 
for a great number of people than the study of 
the soil. In these pages, I have tried to set 
forth the fundamental principles governing the 
nature of the soil, and some of the methods 
that have been found to be both practical and 
profitable by the men who have specialized in 
soil work. True, there are many things that 
we have yet to learn about the workings of 
the soil, but it is interesting to know what has 
already been found out, and to pass the word 
along. This is what I have attempted to do 
in these pages. The very nature of the various 
types of soils makes it imperative to work dif¬ 
ferent soils in a different manner. For in¬ 
stance, the owner of a sandy farm would not 
only plant different crops than the owner of 
a clayey farm, but he would also work his 
acres differently—as in the various operations 
performed during the year, such as time of 
plowing, depth of plowing, methods of culti¬ 
vating, etc. 

To understand how plants use the soil as a 
means of growth, what the soil is composed of, 
how various micro-organisms aid in the de¬ 
composition of the soil, etc., is interesting as 
well as profitable information. Those who are 
especially interested in the nature of soils for 
some particular crop, I would advise to write 
to the nearest agricultural college and ask that 
their names be placed on the regular mailing 


64 HINTS ON SOILS AND FERTILIZERS 

list for such information. There is probably 
no bulletin information available on all types 
of soils and their relation to particular crops, 
outside of this little booklet, and a few cloth- 
bound books of a much higher price. 

In conclusion, I hope that the knowledge set 
forth in these pages will prove helpful to all 
those who are willing to follow the policies laid 
down, as this information comprises the ac¬ 
cumulated results of extensive experimental 
and practical work. 





» LIFE AND LETTERS 

LIFE AND LETTERS is a monthly magazine, 
edited by E. Haldeman-Julius. LIFE AND LET¬ 
TERS presents creative thought to you in a 
simple, compact, inexpensive form. It takes 
one great personality each month—such as 
Rlato, Goethe, Shakespeare, Nietzsche, Thoreau, 
Darwin—and gives a comprehensive report of 
the man’s life and achievements. The dominat¬ 
ing essay is usually about 15,000 words long. 
One year—twelve issues—only $1.00 in TJ. S.; 
$1.50 in Canada and Foreign. LIFE AND LET¬ 
TERS, GIRARD, KANSAS. 


HALDEMAN-JULIUS WEEKLY 

HALDEMAN-JULIUS WEEKLY, edited by E. 
Haldeman-Julius, aims to bring before its read¬ 
ers concise reports of the world’s achievements 
in science, literature, art, drama, politics and 
every other field of human endeavor. The 
HALDEMAN-JULIUS WEEKLY brings to its 
readers the best works of the world’s greatest 
minds. Fifty-two issues—one year—only $1 in 
TJ. S.; $1.50 in Canada and Foreign. HALDE¬ 
MAN-JULIUS WEEKLY, GIRARD, KANSAS. 


KNOW THYSELF 

KNOW THYSELF is a monthly magazine 
edited by "William J. Fielding and E. Haldeman- 
Julius. KNOW THYSELF’S policy is to sup¬ 
ply information along the lines of psycho¬ 
analysis, sex, science, etc. It is a valuable 
source of information. One year—twelve is¬ 
sues—$1.50 in U. S.; $2 in Canada and For¬ 
eign. KNOW THYSELF, GIRARD*KANSAS. 

MADE IN U. S. A. 




